Next Step for Airport Security: Scanners for Your Shoes

It might not be long before airport security will let you keep your shoes on, even if they do grope you.

The Transportation Security Administration announced this week that it’s accepting proposals for a “shoe scanner” device. It could be a way to cut down on the aggravations of airline travel while still allowing officials to check for weapons and explosives inside a terrorist’s Reeboks. The idea crashed and burned when the Department of Homeland Security first proposed it years ago. The current push to acquire the devices kicks off on April 25, when would-be designers will have the chance to submit proposals for the scanners.

What will the next scanners look like? Will they use X-ray or millimeter wave technology? Will they be held in a TSA agent’s hand, or will you have to put your feet on some kind of scanning pedestal? We’ll have to wait until the full request is published on April 25. But a TSA spokeswoman, Sarah Horowitz, tells Danger Room that the agency “is not limiting the types of technologies that can be considered, as long as they meet TSA’s requirements, including those for safety and detection standards.”